Buying a dairy farm

[d williams]

Sounds easy to buy a farm

I’d say buying the farm is the easy bit
Money starts stocking and mechanism a farm
You seen house prices lately

 

[Jdunn55]

Depending on where you want to buy a farm in cornwall you may be able to get a milk contract with roddas, if you milk Jerseys and calve in the spring/all year round.
That could actually suit what you want to do as you could start with 70 they would likely be happy to collect milk from "only" 70 cows as it would be high butterfat. Because they're smaller as well you could gradually build numbers up to about 100 which would be the equivalent of 70 bigger cows imo

If you are genuinly interested it might be worth giving them a ring, but they are quite picky about who they take on. The farm would need to be within 30 miles of their factory and have decent access etc

 

[coomoo]

I’d say buying the farm is the easy bit
Money starts stocking and mechanism a farm
You seen house prices lately

Aye ok then yeah the village I live in is pretty lively I’d say ours would probably be 20/30K above where it was a year ago. Happy days if I could get planning permission on site.

 

[Will Blackburn]

The money to buy a 100 acre farm would be the working capital on a 500 acre farm. With a contract one could provide work one could provide a “lifestyle”.

 

[multi power]

I haven’t got any yet just trying to work out what income to expect from Milk and beef etc thanks

A well run low input system a third of turnover should be profit
Hopefully this helps

 

[Barmyfarmer]

70 cows is ample, do some research on the milk contract and don't let anyone on here try and put you off

 

[Headless chicken]

Everyone has to start somewhere, we can’t all just rock up at home and take over the reins. I’ve just started out with 80 so I don’t see why 70 is a non runner unless there are contract issues. Just get regular relief milkers to start with and run a simple system.

I agree with you that we all must start somewhere but there is a difference between starting at 70 and staying at 70. At that number I would say a robot because more the answer. The risk I was trying to put forward is that youll pay the milker to come and do 70 as you probably would double that number which in turn makes it harder to justify having. You then risk ending In a circle of no help doing it 7 days a week which is sh!t

 

[Jaffa Cakes]

A well run low input system a third of turnover should be profit
Hopefully this helps

Is 50% at all possible if land is all owned or is that pie in the sky?

 

[Farmer Keith]

I’d say buying the farm is the easy bit
Money starts stocking and mechanism a farm
You seen house prices lately

A real low input startup will not need much machinery, electric fencer and an old loader tractor and a willingness to walk for the cows, guy down the road when I was growing up went for his cows on a push bike.

 

[N.Yorks.]

If you can produce and sell direct then you'll be significantly better off. Direct milk sales could be starting out with a self service machine where people go and fill their own containers, they could also be sales to local caterers/shops/towns/villages or could process (ice cream/clotted/cheese).

Folk are more interested in buying local etc etc so why sell to the dairy at 31.5ppl when you could do it direct for 80 - 90 ppl. Obviously there are costs associated with that...... but overall better margin.

You've got loads of scope with a small herd to create a great farm image/brand and any extra work is rewarded well with selling direct. If you just expanded cow numbers to achieve a higher income you'll end up shovelling more sh!t, trying to grow more grass as cheaply as possible and a lot of that is influenced by the weather (bit of a generalisation). On the other hand if you've got local customers they will buy off you every day of the week come rain or shine so investment payback fairly secure.

Good luck.

 

[Justinl200]

70 cows is ample, do some research on the milk contract and don't let anyone on here try and put you off

Thank you, It probably comes across like I’ve been silver spooned but far from it, It’s something I’ve always been interested in, and are just curious how I would make ends meet.

 

[happycows]

There was a small dairy farm with kivells mid Devon back a few months ago which was being sold with cows and Arla contract.
That would be the type of thing to try and find.
I started with 60 in 2008. Now 100 and not looking for any more.
Made several alterations/evolved over the years to improve profit but really pleased with how things are now.

 

[d williams]

A real low input startup will not need much machinery, electric fencer and an old loader tractor and a willingness to walk for the cows, guy down the road when I was growing up went for his cows on a push bike.

Yes but stock and food are a very good price

 

[___\0/___]

Aye ok then yeah the village I live in is pretty lively I’d say ours would probably be 20/30K above where it was a year ago. Happy days if I could get planning permission on site.

Think there is a change in planning law on converting farm buildings coming very soon to Scotland. Might be worth asking a local house builder/architect.

 

[Justinl200]

There was a small dairy farm with kivells mid Devon back a few months ago which was being sold with cows and Arla contract.
That would be the type of thing to try and find.
I started with 60 in 2008. Now 100 and not looking for any more.
Made several alterations/evolved over the years to improve profit but really pleased with how things are now.

Thanks, I’m just trying to get as much advice as I can and obviously the first question is what income I can expect to see if it’s viable.

 

[Farmer Keith]

Yes but stock and food are a very good price

Stock absolutely, you shouldn’t need much bought feed milking down there, they measure there winters in days not months.

 

[N.Yorks.]

Buy this it'll help put detailed financial info together:

https://www.thepocketbook.co.uk/

 

[multi power]

Is 50% at all possible if land is all owned or is that pie in the sky?

Possibly, but you would probably have to retail at least some milk yourself

 

[Jaffa Cakes]

Possibly, but you would probably have to retail at least some milk yourself

There might be hope, just need to come up with a plan that fits 30 acres! Rare breeds milked for butter and icecream into fancy restaurants???? Any ideas to keep the dream alive . . .

 

[multi power]

There might be hope, just need to come up with a plan that fits 30 acres! Rare breeds milked for butter and icecream into fancy restaurants???? Any ideas to keep the dream alive . . .

20-30 cows, retail all the milk